LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) -- Police stepped up patrols Wednesday outside the courthouse for the trial of one of two men accused of murdering gay college student Matthew Shepard.
There were no protesters before the court session got under way, but authorities set aside areas for them during the trial of Russell Henderson, 21.Anti-gay protesters and gay rights advocates have clashed repeatedly over the Shepard case.
Henderson is accused of pistol-whipping Shepard, lashing him to a fence in Wyoming's high plains and leaving him to die last fall.
Jury selection began Wednesday, with opening statements scheduled for April 6.
Henderson and his co-defendant, Aaron McKinney, 21, both face the death penalty if convicted in a case that has become a central focus for gay rights activists and others seeking stronger bias crime legislation.
On Tuesday, Shepard's mother asked Congress and state legislatures to enact bias crime laws to deter future acts of violence.
"There is no guarantee that these laws will stop hate crimes from happening. But they can reduce them," Judy Shepard said at a news conference in Washington, D.C. "They can help change the climate in this country, where some people feel it is okay to target specific groups of people and get away with it."
Shepard declined to discuss the trial, saying only that she and her husband "want to allow justice to run its course."